Betta with molly

[jmtriro01]

Yesyterday, i tried putting my betta (Jake Sully) with my mollies in my 10 gal tank. there are 9 mollies in the tank. i tried it just for fun and see if they will get along together.

surprisingly, Jake didn't seem to mind being with the mollies. he was swimming around like he used to, and he seem to be enjoying the newly found caves in the tank. later at night, i placed him back in his tank. i noticed that he stopped swimming around and just stayed on one side. i felt like he got lonely after having the experience of being with other fishes. do you think im right?

the mollies didn't seem to mind either, they just followed me around expecting me to give them food as always. however, i noticed that one of my male mollies (his name is Finn), the sexually aggressive one, seemed like he became very shy to show off (he shows off by expanding his fins) and he just stayed at one side. do you think he felt insecure and threatened by the presence of of a large finned fish like Jake?

note: i just tried doing this to see what will happen. im just curious, and im am sharing this to all of you to see if any of you had this kind of experience before.

Thank you!

[RandomFish]

LOL it does sound like Finn had his ego bruised. Hope his fishy memory served him well and he forgot all about Mr. Big Fins by now.

I have two mollies (both girls) and had disastrous results when I introduced them to one of my male bettas....they were chasing him around and nipping at his fins! They even nip at each others' fins and have to be kept separated.

I see that you're in the Philippines though, so maybe the mollies you have over there are the peaceful community fish they're supposed to be. I read that the ones from U.S. pet shops have been getting more aggressive for some reason. (Maybe the aggressive males get to reproduce more than the peaceful ones when they're kept in such cramped conditions.)

Still, I think it's best for bettas to be kept alone....just in case. If a fight breaks out, it takes them so much longer to heal from a fin injury than a molly does (my black molly had chunks of her dorsal fin nipped off by the silver molly and it grew back fully within two days with a bit of Melafix).

[jmtriro01]

well, i placed Jake back to his tank because i noticed some rips on his tail when i got home yesterday. i will not do it again. now i know, hehe... maybe he will be happier if he only sees himself on the mirror.

[Betta Slave]

Avatar fan?

Glad to hear Jake is alright other than a few rips in his fins. Hope he heals well

[jmtriro01]

Originally Posted by Betta Slave

Avatar fan?

Glad to hear Jake is alright other than a few rips in his fins. Hope he heals well

my gf gave him that name. i hope he recover fast.

[fishfin]

Well I actually have a Betta named 'Fin' and he lives in peace and harmony with a female mollie named "Pip'.

No fighting at all, in fact, they can often been seen sleeping side by side. I have not had any nipping or tail bitting either. Right now Pip is in the hospital tank beside him as she has what I think is 'cotton wool disease' which I'm treating. In the mean time, they are both sulking and seem quite unhappy to be separated!

It's a shame that your Mollies attacked Jake. Maybe you could try just one Mollie in his tank, like my situation. Just make sure there are lots of hiding places for each of them though.